Aww yeah! Firsties!!

Why do I keep hearing about colonoscopies (sp?) lately? I really want one. I think I would benefit greatly from it. I've never heard anyone's first hand experience of the procedure and aftermath (they leave out all the good stuff and I'm to shy to ask). You should educate us on what it was like.

For the past two years, I have done shows at the Georgian Theatre Festival in Meaford, Ontario. There is a park there called "Beautiful Joe Park". The town is Beautiful Joe's birthplace.

I'd never heard the story, or even heard about it, until I went to Meaford. Since then, I've never run across another person who knew about it. Until now.

LOL, rina bee. There is no TRUE education in colonoscopies like first hand experience.

Awwww, Susie, a fellow rock grabber! Jim and I always take rocks as souveniers when we travel. Then we can walk through the yard and point to different ones and say, "Remember campin' the Porkies that year? Remember Mammoth Caves? I don't know where that one came from, but innit pretty?"

And I'm totally jealous that you got pictures of your colonoscopy. I was totally out during mine, and they never gave me any pictures or other parting gifts. Why, for all I know, they were never really in my ass at all.

rina bee, are you sure that's what you want? You're a bit young. I was mostly very drowsy; one moment of OUCH, but other than that, I snoozed, unlike Katie Couric.

nilbo, he was real? I didn't know that, until right now. This book doesn't say anything at all about that. Cool. I'm not surprised you've never met anyone else...I specialize in being "the only one" ;)

At the risk of making you feel less "special":

http://www.beautifuljoe.org/

Oh, Bucky, you are such a bad influence. Do you know how much I now want to take pix of Gumby holding pix of "someone's" digestive tract parts, from anus thru colon, and post them as tho Dr. Gumby took a trip up Bucky's butt? You probably do know. But I won't do that. Maybe for your birthday!

nilbo, no risk, my delusions are pretty much carved in stone by this point, but how the hell did I google and yahoo Beautiful Joe numerous times over the years, hoping to find someone selling an old book, and never found that place? Weird.

Oh, SusieToo, you know how I loves me some rocks! And you know I've just returned from rock heaven. (I've got the overdrawn account to prove it.)

My son collects rocks. He has thousands of rocks stashed in various places in his room. One day, I told him we needed to weed out the "pretty" ones and throw the rest away. "Mommy," he said, "They are all pretty in their own way, how would I choose the prettiest?" I sure do learn a lot from him.

Great post, I love these lists!

As far as "Beautiful Joe" goes, all you have to do to get as many copies as you want is come up to Meaford, Ontario, where the book was written. They have PLENTY of the books there and they've even produced it as a musical. There is even "Beautiful Joe" park. I went to highschool Meaford and that's all we seemed to hear about!
And now that I read the comments, I see that Nilbo already beat me to this info--sorry for the double info!

Rocks -- Punkin collects rocks whenever she sees a bunch of them somewhere, and brings them home to put outside "in the garden." She arranges them all together in one spot and admires them as she walks by. :)

I used to collect rocks when I was a kid, too.

Rock lovers, go here:
http://www.magicbeansworkshop.com/
and check out julie's lovely creations:)

robin and CK, I have never outgrown it. Just yesterday I washed and dried a rock in the pocket of my jeans! Robin, I love people's "about me" lists too; I actually read them even when they're 100 all at once!

effie, thank you; I went to the website. It could have been that much of my searching was before the mid 90s when that foundation was established. I can't believe all that info was available and I couldn't find anything for years. As I said, I did not know until this morning that the story was based on fact. My very old copy of the book says nothing about that, nor that the author is a woman. I learned stuff today!

is this where Rock Hounds Anon. meets?

Hi, my name is Greenie and I'm a rock hound.

My favorite rocks are from spain, they have fossilized trilobites (is that right? can't remember correct id) in them.

I remember my Doc saying if you feel the need to fart, don't be embarrassed to do so, because we are blowing air up your ass, it's only natural. I watched a good portion of it on the monitor.

Oh, greenie, that took me a moment...why is greenie's doc blowing rocks up his ass? But now I'm with you....whew, thought we'd slipped into the Cotillion there for a minute!

Susie, aren't we always slipping into the Cotillion?

I love rocks, too. I like the pretty ones I see in the road but I'll buy cool ones from stores, too.

My favorite ones, though, are the diamonds that I like to wear. Oh, how nice. Hey, my birthday's in April, it's my birthstone. I'm allowed. :-)

LOL, Squirl. You beat me to it. HAHAHA. I'm so happy, something I said actually stuck with someone! :) YAY!

Nic, I liked that joke so well that I went back and re-read it so I could tell it properly. Hope you don't mind. :-)

My kids attract rocks, too. I don't say "collect" because it is more like the rocks find their way into pockets and backpacks by themselves. At least, that's what my kids say. "I don't remember picking this up, Mom." "I don't know where this came from, Mommy."

We have shards of pottery from Israel; a friend just picked them up off the ground when he was there a few years ago. I love them. I also have rocks from Versailles and from under the Eiffel Tower. I love those, too.

My brother's family always picks a big 'ol rock whenever they take a trip somewhere. When they get home, they paint the location and the date on the rock and put it with the others on their windowsills. Nearly every sill is covered. It's awesome.

Absolutely display those photos of your colon! Call the collection "The Inner Me". Post them too!

I misread #16 and thought you said Love rocks! I thought, "Party on girl!" You would so be jealous of the deburr machines here are work. It's like a small refrigerator sized tumbler.

When I saw Beautiful Joe, my heart waxed nostalgic. Oh, those poor ears! I want to go to the library right now and read it again.

Greenthumb,
Trilobites are those fossils (awesomely cool) that sorta look like horse-shoe crabs. They used to live under the sea millions of years ago. I have TONS of ROCKS and TRILOBITES too not to mention many other fossil specimans. My hubby was a Geologist/Paleontologist. When I get hold of a digital camara, I will post some pics of them! I can get really excited about rocks and fossils! =)

Squirl, you go right ahead and use it 4evah, dear. I'm glad you enjoyed it b/c I sure did when I first heard it! Happy late birthday!

Am I halucinating? Where were the first 10? Maybe I missed them. :(

I'm gonna have to try and find Beautiful Joe myself. alibris.com is a good place to find used books. (I think Sherri has a link to it on her site.)

The more I get to know you, the more I like you.

Ah Beautiful Joe. I feel like I'm back in elementary school reading that little tale. I'm not surprised that my fellow Canucks know the book but, like Nilbo, I had never known anyone that was aware of the story. Susie you've amazed me again.

dc

Hey Sis...it appears I've gone and gotten myself in trouble again, and it's lady trouble no less.

I forgot to play it cool like you taught me and one found out about the other and it's all over the place. (Doc Ern and Klog/a.k.a. Kelli)

HELP!!!

Thank you for the linky love on Jakk's Magic Beans Workshop!

I have to get "Beautiful Joe" for my Joe. He collects Joe memorabilia.

Susie: When I was going into sixth grade my parents FORCED me to move and leave all my friends to go to a whole other town.

I had always loved rock collecting and breaking them apart and polishing them...etc... well the new house we moved into had once housed a disenchanted teen rock collector. It seems his passion for rocks was overtaken by his passion for rock and roll and drugs.

Someone, I don't know who, took the rock collection and emptied it out in the yard. To my delight, I had a summer of searching for and finding glorious treasure like garnet, amethyst, geodes, flint, iron pyrate or fools gold and more. It was a dream come true.

laurenbove: sounds a little like divine intervention or fate.

I think it is pretty spiffy that your dad moved houses. I have seen an entire house move down the highway before, and I thought that was the most beautiful thing ever. That someone loved their house so much that they couldn't part with it, so they moved it with them.

I really want to read Beautiful Joe, now. I hate to hear about dog abuse, but I am guessing this story has a happy ending?

The story about collecting rocks reminds me of that old movie starring Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz called "The Long, Long Trailer". They go on a honeymoon in a freakin' trailer and everywhere they stop, she insists on taking a rock with her in the trailer. By the end, that trailer is so weighted down with rocks. Classic Lucille Ball moment.

I like Jif and you. I do. Kudos on the embellishment, I'm a bit partial to moustached women. But then, I live in Portugal - we have that a lot.

(Rina Bee, they stick a pipeline up your bum, grab hold and holler "Booo!" The aftermath is rather airy.)

People gather rocks from far-off lands for me too! I have a friend in the Air Force who almost got shot in a foreign land for dashing from his jet to the edge of the runway, grabbing a rock for me, and dashing back.

I love the smell of wet rocks.

I'm going to build a "memorial garden" this summer and build a rock cairn in the middle with some of my collection...

Don't know what ~you~ want to do with the colonoscopy pics, but my spouse put his x-rays from his smashed elbow up on his website. This was ten years ago when having one's own website was not so common. They are still there.

I threw mine away, the records have copies.
You never know when you might need a rock.

Even the cover of the dog book is making me wanna cry! I used to have an iron constitution for sad animal stories -- I needed it for my job -- now I'm back to being mushy!

So one of your brothers is the 7th child, although not technically the 7th son. Close, but no cigar.

My folks used to be rockhounds. Once they found a bone that proved to be from an eohippus. University of Oregon didn't want it; said they were so common. So much for amateur archaeology. (But it was so pretty/agatized, that Mom turned it into jewelry.)

Okay,I was busy today and missed out on the "conversation". I am surprised That with all these rock collectors that Katie-be-bored-at-work didn't try to auction of her stone.

Okay,I was busy today and missed out on the "conversation". I am surprised That with all these rock collectors that Katie-be-bored-at-work didn't try to auction of her stone.

You vandel! I cant even believe it. Hey, your butt is just that good.
My little Hunter collects rocks too. Has them everywhere, names them. He loves them, and his stuffed animals. He lets me sleep with his 'horsey' because he wants horsey to protect me. That warms my heart.

squirl, I'll share my rocks with you when you come to live with me:)

summer, we're not going to have to bail you and J out of somewhere, are we?

misfit, you have an impressive collection; I like pottery and china shards, too. I want to make a mirror frame out of broken china and pottery. I like your brother's idea; I have forgotten where a lot of mine came from.

kranki, I'll have to look at them again...stay tuned for the colon post -- maybe --

robyn, love hurts, love stinks, why not love rocks? I want to read Beautiful Joe with my little girl.

weetzie, you got your profile pic on there! I'll look forward to seeing your rocks and fossils; sounds like there are a lot of amateur geologists/archaeologists on here today.

ern, I did 10 before...just before the Aaron Neville thing, in March, I think it was... Looks like you can get the book at Amazon now, but I tried years ago and couldn't; or check the link to the foundation that Nilbo gave us.

torrie, are you drunk?

dang, I will keep amazing you, I promise. This whole dang thing amazes me. I just knew I loved the story when I was little, and then found it about 30 years later, and I truly did not know until today that it was true, and there's a whole town/park, etc. in Canada, about it....this is so cool!

greenie, as soon as I finish greeting my guests, I will come and see about you...what have you done, now, boy?

julie, you are so welcome. I think you're amazing.

laurenbove, it's a wonderful story for your son, too, told from the dog's p.o.v., and teaches compassion for animals and those less fortunate. I LOVE the story of your wonderful rock mine. A magical story.

mamaramma, it must be a "Susie thang;)" Housemoving is a very unusual profession, and there is ALWAYS a story behind it.

katiebbaw, right, as above, people love them, or have superstitions about them, or something, always a story. Beautiful Joe is a happy, redemptive story. I LOVE LUCY. I vaguely remember that movie; I'll have to see if I can find it.

lioness, you are funny, and we like that, too. I have no problem with mustached women; makes a certain statement, I think.

homestead, the garden sounds wonderful; I had not thought of it, but, yes, wet rocks smell really right.

zhoenw, please tell me how to say your name. You are right, I can put my rocks to much better uses than my colon pix.

nicolette, I thought of you when I posted this; you would love the story. Right about my brother, and one of my brothers, I never knew, he died shortly after birth, many years before I was born.

oldhorsetailsnake, welcome, I don't think we've met:) Good for your mom, that sounds like a thrilling find to me.

william, you're right, Katie has a good market of stone collectors right here;)

lawbrat, what a sweet boy you have -- 2 of them I know:) Maybe I'll blog about the time I actually was a vandal -- police involvement and everything!

Re: #13 - You date peanut butter?

You're no troll. Well, maybe a sexy, sarcastic, super-silly troll. All of which begin with the letter 's' so you must be a s-troll. A stroll.

And be real, everyone loves a nice stroll. With peanut butter.

Smooches

There is a guy here in the town I live in that likes to move historical homes to save them. He buys them for, like, $1 (because they would be knocked down otherwise, of course), and then hires people to move them. He actually moved a bunch of them into the same area and made a small subdivision out of it. Since I think history is cool, I think moving historic homes is cool.

Oh, and I would totally dig looking at your colonoscopy pics!

I think you should go for it with the colon pics. A few months ago, I posted some images from my CT scan.

Looking at myself creeps me out, but someone else's images would be kinda cool.

Howdy. Welcome and thank you for your kind words and advice. Coincidentally, I have an abbreviated version of the verses you quote, printed on the small garden flag which I just hung outside my front door yesterday. I would assure you that I share your concern for always giving PROPS to the Architect; and that I would not dream of messing with anyone's quintessence. Some things we just will. not. do. here.

Thank you, your most excellent Plum-ness. I MARRIED JiF! He is smooooooth (not chunky; not at the moment). I love a stroll. Who doesn't enjoy a nice, leisurely stroll? I like it. I'm a stroll.

andrea and sharkey, I will take your advice under....advisement. I am a freak about my privacy...have always said I will not publish recognizable pix...although, it is not like someone's going to recognize my colon...no, this would be a whole 'nother kind of blog if that were the case....hmmm....

Hello Susie,

Last week a friend sent me your blog. I think it is only the second blog I have ever read. I was shaking with laugher so hard, alone in my cube...(how hard? you ask)....you could hear me cackling and snorting in my cube over the sound of the pounding Seattle rain on the skylight. Everyone came over to see what was so funny, and I forwarded on to share the humor. Thanks! I love to laugh like that and I have been checking in on your blog every day since to see what is new.